Billions of Dollars in Savings Have Been Realized through Information Technology Reform, but Agencies Need to Complete Reinvestment Plans

Beginning in 2010, the Office of management and Budget (OMB) initiated a series of IT reform efforts to consolidate the growing number of data centers and eliminate duplicative spending. In May 2012, the agency began a “cut and reinvest” effort that required agencies to propose fiscal year 2014 IT reductions and reinvestments. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review agencies’savings from OMB’s IT reform efforts and determine how those savings are being reinvested. The objectives were to (1) assess agencies’ progress in achieving savings from their IT reform efforts, (2) evaluate agencies’ plans to reinvest their savings, and (3) evaluate how selected agencies have reinvested their savings and governance processes to oversee the reinvestments.

GAO assessed 26 agencies’ cost savings and avoidance documentation, evaluated 27 agencies’(including the Smithsonian Institution) reinvestment plans against OMB’s guidance, and compared 4 of the agencies’ governance processes against best practices. The 4 agencies were selected, in part, because they had the highest dollar amounts of proposed IT reinvestments. GAO recommends that agencies complete their IT savings reinvestment plans and improve tracking, and that OMB define targets for agency reinvestment and require that agencies complete their plans and track actual reinvestment performance. OMB and 12 agencies agreed with GAO’s recommendations, 1 did not state whether it agreed or disagreed, 3 had no comments, and 1 partially agreed.